Chilean-focused copper explorer Fitzroy Minerals (TSX-V:FTZ) sees potential to bring the Buen Retiro Copper Project into production in early 2028, with very little capital expenditure.
Speaking to Mining.com.au, CEO Merlin Marr-Johnson says within the Tenorita area, the company is trying to get between five and eight years of mine life into measured and indicated resources.
“When you’ve been in the industry for ages, you get a feel for how long a mine can go for,” Marr-Johnson explains.
“Of course we’ve got to do the studies and we’ve got to do all of the test work, but we’re pretty sure that this is going to be a mine and that what we put into the initial mine plan will be half or a third of the ultimate mine life.”
Fitzroy is conducting metallurgical test work, which is expected to be reported in due course, ahead of delivering a Prefeasibility Study (PFS).
“We’ll complete the final bit of that during the course of this year,” the CEO says.
“Once the assays come in and all of the [quality assurance/quality control] is done and then the modelling, that should get into the final resource either December or January.”
The company is also applying for an environmental submission in Q4 2026 and has been advised it will take six to nine months to secure approval.
Three peas in a pod
Buen Retiro is an iron-oxide copper–gold (IOCG) project located 60km south of Copiapó in north-central Chile.
The properties are clustered around, and include, a historical open pit mine called Manto Negro that was previously operated by Sociedad Punta del Cobre. The project is also situated close to Lundin Mining’s (TSX:LUN) Candelaria deposit in the Punta del Cobre IOCG district of Copiapó.
Marr-Johnson explains the company decided to take on the project with the aim of uncovering another Candelaria — an open pit and underground copper, gold, and silver mine, feeding an 80,000-tonne-per-day processing plant.
“That’s a tier-one IOCG project producing 150,000–160,000 tonnes of copper per year, plus 50,000–80,000 ounces of gold per annum,” Marr-Johnson says.
Just north of Candelaria sits Capstone Copper’s (TSX:CS) Mantoverde open pit mine, which has 32,000-tonne-per-day sulphide mill capacity and a 60,000-tonne-per-year copper cathode capacity until 2049.
“In terms of geological potential, setting, and geophysical signature — one, two, three peas in a pod,” Fitzroy’s CEO says.
Fitzroy initially started exploring with the expectation that it would find the next Candelaria. However, the company was hitting oxides — lots of “good grade oxides at surface”, as Marr-Johnson describes.
Buen Retiro’s ‘highest’ copper grade
Late last week, Fitzroy intersected its ‘highest’ copper grade to date at the Buen Retiro Project, via an ongoing diamond and reverse circulation (RC) drilling program.
Hole BRT-DDH094 returned 105m @ 0.74% copper (Cu) from 58m, including 12m @ 3.01% Cu from 75m; hole BRT-DDH095 returned 8.8m @ 3.7% Cu, including 2.8m @ 11.35% Cu and 1m @ 21.8% Cu; and hole BRT-DDH099 returned 83m @ 0.46% Cu, including 49m @ 0.68% Cu.
Marr-Johnson says hole 94 was a 100m extension to known mineralisation in the northeast of the Tenorita area, while hole 99 represents a newly identified area of mineralisation between the Manto Negro and Nativo areas.
“Fitzroy has chosen to focus most efforts towards defining measured and indicated resources that can support a robustly profitable development plan,” he adds.
Since February 2026, 92 diamond drill holes totalling 16,376m have been completed.
One rig is drilling copper sulphides in the Ortuzar area, while another diamond rig is testing a zone of copper oxide mineralisation in the Manto Negro area. The third rig is drilling the northeast extension of the Tenorita area. Meanwhile, the RC rig is drilling regional exploration targets.
The company is on track to complete a further 6,000m of drilling this year. Two of the diamond rigs are expected to leave site next month, having reached a data cut-off to allow time for logging, assaying, and inclusion in the maiden resource estimate.
Fitzroy Minerals is a mineral explorer focused on advancing commercial copper and gold discoveries in Chile.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Fitzroy Minerals
